Dead or Alive Wiki:Manual of Style

Welcome to the Dead or Alive Wiki's Manual of Style. This page is used as a reference for editors on how to format the articles in the Dead or Alive Wiki in a more standard, organized manner. You are welcome to discuss any discrepancies or loopholes in the talk page.

Contents

General Article Standards

Articles created should be linked to Dead or Alive, including real-world references such as game developers. Subjects that do not link to the series but need a link should be linked to their respective pages in Wikipedia.

E.g.: "Xbox 360" should be linked to its article in Wikipedia using the template [[wikipedia:Xbox 360]] or {{w|Xbox 360}}

The language of the wiki is American English, considering the fact that the series are translated into American English. In the American English style, it is proper grammar that a possessive term should only lack an "s" after it if it is plural. It also means that you should use a comma before the final term when making a list of three or more subjects.

E.g.: Use Helena Douglas's; never Helena Douglas'.

E.g.: Ayane, Hayate, and Kasumi; not Ayane, Hayate and Kasumi.

Articles should be named according to the subject's official name e.g. "Ryu's Weapon" should be named "Dragon Sword". Article names must also be written in singular instead of plural, e.g. "Nunchaku" instead of "Nunchakus". Exception to this rule is when the article is a List, e.g. "List of Weapons".

For characters, the character's name should be given with no title, unless to avoid confusion, e.g. "Master Genra".

For subjects without official names, please use the most accepted title - discussions encouraged - and place {{Nameless}} at the top of the article.

If the official name of a subject has been changed in later games of Dead or Alive, please use the first name. However, redirects can be made using the later names.

The definite article (the) and indefinite articles (a/an) should be avoided in article titles: e.g. "The Dragon Sword" should be named "Dragon Sword".

Always include basic information about the subject when starting an article. The first sentence should have the subject written in bold. The first sentence should detail the name, classification, and game (or series if it recurs). Please note that the first line should be written with the definite article and the topic is regarded as a singular entity, except for certain cases. Circular definitions are not allowed, because they do not explain anything to the reader.

The Japanese term should be included in the intro after the bold subject term within parentheses and included with the romaji, written in italics, e.g. Dead or Alive (デッドオアアライブ, Deddo oa Araibu)

All game titles should be italicized, e.g. Dead or Alive; not Dead or Alive. Soundtrack albums should also be italicized, and song titles in quotation marks.

Do not use initial abbreviations, apart from the start of the article as other names, e.g. Dead or Alive 4; never DOA4. Short-hand titles such as "Paradise" instead of Dead or Alive Paradise may be used after the first mention.

Avoid using the second person pronoun (you) in articles, except for strategies and quotes. As such, avoid using plural pronouns for singular nouns. e.g. "The player" cannot be referred to as "they". Use the general "he".

Use the correct numerals (Arabic or Roman) used in official titles, e.g.: Dead or Alive 4, not Dead or Alive IV.

Wikilinking is limited to the first occurrence of the word or phrase.

The first letters of all original weapons - e.g. Dragon Sword - must be capitalized.

Component, minor, or insignificant items can be grouped by an identifying characteristic rather than each item having its own page, as long as the details of each component are provided.

All video game controller buttons (except for the analog sticks) should be represented by images, particularly in gameplay sections.

Speculation should not be added into any article whatsoever.

For Game Articles

Use official, complete names for the article titles.

E.g.: "Dead or Alive 4", not "DOA4"

The Video Game Infobox template at the top of the page must be used on all game articles and be filled in correctly.

General sections

Introduction: General introduction, stating when the game was released, which gaming platforms it belongs to, and basically describing about the game in general. Some snippets from the content of the article may be written here.

Story - The main plot of the game; make it as spoilerific as possible.

Characters - A list limited to the playable characters, including those that can be unlocked. Include brief intro to the character for the game.

Gameplay - A general summary of gameplay, including differences from previous games.

Soundtrack - A general summary of the music on the game; must be linked to main soundtrack article.

Development - How and when it was created; make it as detailed as possible.

Reception - A general summary of critic reception of the game that includes quotes from reviewers. Add links to reviews when relevant.

Trailers - Video footage of official adverts and trailers for the game.

Packaging artwork - A gallery of packaging for the game from America, Europe, and Japan, including special edition packaging.

Trivia - Relevant real world references etc.

External links - Priority to official websites.

For Characters Articles

Each character gets an article, as long as they fall under the sphere of the Dead or Alive series.

The article title must be the character's full, official name from the game series.

E.g.: "Tina Armstrong", not just "Tina".

Likewise, non-canon names must not be used as title but can be talked about in the article itself when relevant.

E.g.: "Christie Allen" is only used in the movie, so must not be used as Christie's article title.

Each playable character should have a filled-in Character Infobox included at the top of their page.

Insert official and relevant character artwork, added with a caption for explanation, but try not to go overboard. An image every five lines makes the page look cluttered. Most images not used on the page itself can be placed under the Gallery section of the article.

It's encouraged to place a character quote at the top, but try to find a quote that is relevant to the character's history or personality, like a short, snappy summary for that character. A random quote is pointless.

No distasteful information is to be put in any part of the character articles.

General sections

Introduction - A brief summary of the characters, which include the character's nationality, occupation and fighting style, which series they belong to, and which game they first appeared in. Relevant relationships with other main characters - e.g. family relationships - can be touched upon but not talked about in great detail.

History - A biography detailing the character's personal lives. The story must be based on the series canon, be in a correctly-ordered timeline, and must further divided into subsections using the title game, even if it's just one game.

Endings - Video footage of the character's endings from the Dead or Alive series, if any.

Character - Detailed look at the character, split into three subsections:

Appearance - Briefly explaining style of clothing and hairstyles. Iconic outfits can be described in more detail. Include a link to the character's costume catalogues.

Personality - Describing and explaining behaviours and ideals that the character have, be they negative or positive.

Etymology - A look at the meaning behind the character's name, and how said meaning links back to the character, if possible.

Relationships - Notable relationships and links the character has with others in the main series. Each relationship is subsection with the name of the other character - e.g. If someone has a relationship with Kasumi, the subheading will be "Kasumi". Not every brief interaction or encounter is worth mentioning. Pre-fight introductions, winning quotes, and tag throws are not sufficient basis for a relationship subsection.

Gameplay - A summary of the character's in-game fighting style, their pros and cons, and if they are suited for beginners or expert players. Include a link to the character's command lists. Use subsection for different series - e.g. the female characters of Dead or Alive have the extra subsection "Dead or Alive Xtreme" for their volleyball stats.

Other appearances - A brief summary of official character appearances outside the main series or the franchise all together. This includes:

Remakes and spin-off titles such as Dead or Alive Ultimate or Dead or Alive Paradise.

Other franchise appearances such as Dead or Alive movies.

Fighting quotes - Link to character's in-game quotes.

Musical themes - A list of music tracks for the character, linking to the track's articles.

Gallery - Images of the character, such as concept art and promotional renders. The gallery may be separated into its own page if there are too many images.

Trivia - Pieces of extra, related information. Do not insert redundant information into the trivia section, particularly when the information is already contained within the main article body. If merging bits of trivial information to the main body of the page is possible, then by all means, do so. No fan theories, speculation, assumption, etc. Resemblances to characters in other media are subjective and should not be included anywhere.

For Location Articles

Each location gets an article, as long as it is under the sphere of the Dead or Alive series.

Images are encouraged.

Using Media

Images

Head images for articles should be renders or in-game captures. If neither are available, artwork or scans from other sources are acceptable.

New images should only be uploaded over old images if you are replacing the image with a better quality version.

Where an image is of poor quality, use the template {{Betterpic}} to alert the uploader and other users.

Character userbox images should only feature that said character.

Where possible, please incorporate images into the article, but do not place an image every five lines.

If an article is in need of a image, you can alert other users by using the template {{Images}}.